Community college students typically have access to a large selection of courses and programs, and therefore the student transcripts at any one college or college system tend to be very diverse. As a result, it is difficult for faculty, administrators, and researchers to understand the course-taking patterns of students in order to determine what…

Research that has traditionally supported program accreditation has tended to be primarily descriptive in nature, focusing on outcomes such as the satisfaction of graduates and passing rates on licensure exams. The study reported here illustrates how research employing multivariate methodologies can go beyond such descriptive reporting to address…